Almost the same percent of voters (43 percent) disapprove of the president's performance.

The poll of 1,280 registered voters in California was conducted Aug. 14-28. The questions were asked in six languages and dialects – English, Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and Vietnamese.

The recent decline is a consequence of diminished support among "subgroups of voters who had been among Obama’s strongest supporters in prior polls," according to a news release from the pollsters.

For example, there has been a nine-point decline in the way Democratic voters view the president. In early June, 76 percent of California Democrats approved of the president’s performance in office. That has dropped to 68 percent in the current poll.

"Obama's popularity couldn't get much lower among Republicans, but this is his base that's leaving him: liberals, people in the bay area and Los Angeles. And the people who typically are paying the most attention (to national affairs) are the most unhappy," Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee that despite that frustration, there has not been "any kind of rallying event that could rebound public support behind this president."

Obama's showing in the Field Poll is only slightly better than in the recent Gallup poll, which found the president with a meager 42 percent approval rating. More than half of voters surveyed (51 percent) disapprove of his job performance.

In November 2011, Obama's approval was at 48 percent, the lowest point until the latest Field poll.

While California is a strongly Democratic state, DiCamillo believes Obama could drag his party down in the November election.

"The opinions of likely voters in November are even more negative" than in the state as a whole, DiCamillo told the Sacramento Bee, which could impact Democrats in down-ticket races.